The invention concerns a headset communication unit which comprises a housing in which at least one transducer is placed, and on which a microphone arm is suspended, said housing also having means for securing the communication unit to the head of a user. In the preferred construction, the headset is intended to be in wireless connection with some kind of other base unit, such as a cell phone, and communications would preferably follow the “Bluetooth” protocol. Of course, a person skilled in the art could modify the structure shown to make a wire connection with a base unit.
Such a communication unit is most often used in connection with telephony, where a telephone user who talks over the telephone often and/or engages in long telephone conversations, can use such a unit in the form of a headset or an earset without having to hold a handset. However, other uses also exist, such as in connection with mobile telephones and similar communication equipment.
Examples of known headsets or earsets are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,166 A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,812 A. These publications disclose both configurations, which are provided with a relatively long microphone arm, which means that both of these constructions are relatively space demanding when they are not being used. It is true that the microphone arm on the headset in the last-mentioned publication can be turned upwards, so that it lies parallel with the housing and the head-piece, and whereby at the same time a switch function is activated, but still this known headset will be of considerable dimensions. It will thus not be expedient for users to transport these known headsets around with them when the headsets are not in use, the reason being that they cannot be placed in a pocket, a bag or the like without great difficulty.
A further earset is also known from DE 299 08 529 U, where the earset is configured as a round capsule with an ear hook and a relatively long microphone boom, this boom being configured in a flexible material. This microphone boom is wound up inside the capsule, from which it can be drawn out when it is to be used. Due to the flexible nature of the microphone boom, a precise positioning of the microphone and herewith an optimum sound reception can hardly be expected and, moreover, the microphone boom will easily be susceptible to physical influences.
Finally, a communication unit of the kind disclosed in the preamble is known from DE 298 08 425 U, which describes a wireless earset. This known earset has a housing in the form of an ear shell which at its uppermost part has a projecting antenna, and which at its lower part has a microphone arm. This microphone arm consists of two link stays, which are hinged to each other. The one link stay supports a microphone at its free end, while the other link stay is secured to the housing in a pivotal and displaceable manner. When the earset is not in use, the microphone arm can be inserted into a guide in the housing, in that the two link stays are first folded together by a turning of the one link stay, so that the two link stays lie over each other, after which they are turned so that they lie in line with the guide, after which the link stays can finally be pushed into the guide in the housing.
What this known microphone arm thus involves is that it consists of a relatively complicated and herewith also a vulnerable mechanism, which comprises two hinge links and a linear guiding movement and herewith subsequent risk of damage during use. Moreover, the users of this known earset must make themselves familiar with a relatively complex procedure for taking the earset into use and its adjustment, in that the microphone arm must first be slid out of the guideway groove, after which the two link stays must be folded out, and finally after which a suitable position of use must be set by adjustment of the two hinges, i.e. partly the hinge between the two link stays and partly the hinge between the second link stay and the housing.